Lithium Mining

Lithium miner back in the driving seat on electric vehicle rebound By Nick Toscano For Australia’s miners of lithium, one of the critical metals to make electric batteries, last year started out like the one before it: with the same weakness in demand and pricing that has been forcing operators into survival mode. The markets for battery ingredients lithium and cobalt, which soared from 2016-18, went from boom to bust after a rush of new projects tipped the industry into oversupply, and reductions in Chinese subsidy programs put a pause on the electric vehicle revolution. Pilbara Minerals CEO Ken Brinsden says 2020 was a “tale of two halves”.CREDIT:PHILIP GOSTELOW The price of hard-rock lithium concentrate known as spodumene had crashed by nearly half already and the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to drive car sales even lower. But as it turned out, 2020 was a “tale of two halves”, says Ken Brinsden, chief executive of Pilbara Minerals, one of Australia’s …